Wednesday, April 5, 2017

The story of how I found my UK Children's Editions of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Order of the Phoenix, and Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling at Southbank Book Market in London!

On
my first trip to London in 2015 I was determined to finish my
collection of UK Children Editions of Harry Potter. Ideally, I wanted
to find cheap editions. It didn't matter if they were first editions
as long I had them. I knew that the best place to look in multiple
places would be Charing Cross Road, but I wanted to try something
more unique first. I'm not even sure where I first heard of the used
book sale that takes place under the Waterloo Bridge, but once it was
in my head I knew that it was exactly the right place to start. I had
visions of stumbling across copies of Harry Potter there and would do
anything to go.

I was sitting on one of those nice benches when I took this of
the market under the bridge.

Anything
is practically what I gave. My mom and I got hopelessly,
frustratingly lost. London (well, in my opinion England in general)
is horrible with street signs. We were lost for about an hour and
were miles away from our target when we finally realized what had
gone wrong. I was cranky and I'm pretty sure my mom wanted to throw
me in the Thames more than once. I wasn't sure that getting to this
book flea market type thing was even worth it but when we finally got
there I knew it was. It was such a nice, peaceful place. Right on
Southbank, it is a nice place to buy books and then sit there on a
bench reading them. If I lived near there I'd have no pay check
because I would be there every day reading and people watching.

While
searching the tables I found Prisoner of Azkaban, Order of the
Phoenix, and Deathly Hallows (the later 2 were first editions)! The
market was set up weird. At least weird to me, maybe because I'm not
British, I'm not sure. At the first table I found one of them,
snatched it up, and moved on to the next table to search. I noticed,
however, that this sketchy old man kept looking at me. I was a bit
freaked out, but then realized that it was because he thought I was
stealing. Each table or so, though very close together, belonged to
separate people. Here in the States at least, vendors have clear
separations, there it wasn't nearly as clear. I did figure it out and
paid the man. I paid closer attention after that and no more sketchy
people bore holes into me with their gazes. All in all I bought 2
first editions and 1 early edition for a grand total of £25! It was definitely one of the most unlikely setting for such a find, but my book hunting paid off!